23rd Congress of International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, 8-13 September, 2002, Toronto, Canada
Paper ICAS 2002-6.2.2

A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO MANUFACTURING SYSTEM DESIGN IN THE DEFENSE AEROSPACE INDUSTRY

A. Vaughn, J. T. Shields
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

Keywords: manufacturing system design, systems engineering, production systems, lean manufacturing, assembly operations, system integration

Manufacturing has evolved to become a critical element of the competitive skill set of defense aerospace firms. Given the changes in the acquisition environment and culture; traditional "thrown over the wall" means of developing and manufacturing products are insufficient. Also, manufacturing systems are complex systems that need to be carefully designed in a holistic manner and there are shortcomings with available tools and methods to assist in the design of these systems. This paper outlines the generation and validation of a framework to guide this manufacturing system design process.

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